About

Fort Egypt, a massive, full-dovetailed log house in Page County near the Shenandoah River, is one of the earliest and most complete of a small group of houses erected in the Massanutten region by Pennsylvania settlers of both German and Swiss descent. Dating from the mid-18th-century, the house was the homestead of the Strickler and Stover families and is still in the ownership of Strickler descendants. Its interior spaces were organized for work, storage, and family life throughout the agricultural year. Typical of such dwellings, it has a vaulted cooling cellar, or Gewolbekeller. The first floor, arranged around a massive center chimney, follows a standard Continental vernacular form. The interior also preserves much original woodwork and hardware, including vertical board partitions and a variety of door types. The original gable roof of Fort Egypt was replaced in the 19th century by the present low-hipped roof.